Does any body know how 123-reg handle bulk domain transfers? Their control panel only allows for one transfer request at a time, and I have about 150.uk. I am attracted by the current free transfers, so a secondary question would be, are they really doing free transfers, or is there a catch, and can anywhere else beat or come close to the £3ish a domain renewal fees?

thanks all :)

Our Uk based members should chime in and make a few local recommendations. On a side note I would only recommend a local based provider

Are you trying to transfer TO or FROM 123-reg?

.uk transfers have to be initiated by the existing registrar (i.e., it's a "push" not a "pull"), so if you are trying to transfer domains TO 123-reg then your existing registrar will have to do all the formalities with the registry and they may well charge for the service (some do, some don't - and some, like Easyspace, charge a ridiculous amount).

Most .uk registrars DON'T charge to transfer domains to them because they want the business and because a transfer in is not costing them anything... so if this is a free transfer TO 123-reg it's not actually anything special.

On the question of costs: Nominet (the .uk registry) charges it's registrars GBP 5.00 plus VAT (5.88) for two years (there are no one-year renewals). Anyone charging less than that is selling .uk domains at a loss. Is the GBP 3.00 you are talking about for one year or two? If it's for two years there has got to be a catch. If it's for one year the registrar is making a profit of 6p per year...

thanks for the speedy replies :)
Are you trying to transfer TO or FROM 123-reg?

yeah, transfering to 123-reg

On the question of costs: Nominet (the .uk registry) charges it's registrars GBP 5.00 plus VAT (5.88) for two years (there are no one-year renewals). Anyone charging less than that is selling .uk domains at a loss. Is the GBP 3.00 you are talking about for one year or two? If it's for two years there has got to be a catch. If it's for one year the registrar is making a profit of 6p per year...
the £3 is per year. I hadn't realised that nominet's charges were per 2 years. Obviously that would mean I have to become a tag holder (and member?) which would cost a bit. I have about 150 uk domains, I have worked out the saving with nominet would be about £35 a year, so it would not outweight the membership costs.

There is not too much in the price I guess, so it comes down also to the tools they offer and the customer services. I haven't be impressed by 123 so far, and as I would want to initiate transfers asap, their lack of haste in replying to my emails is worrying. I foresee a couple of problems with domains up for renewal too soon, so I really want access to a decent interface, or human-being!

simple answer is no, there is no bulk "accept domains" option - you have to get them released by the existing registrar to ipex's ISPTAG and then one by one add them to 123reg

with 150 domains, theres no "cost saving" on being a tagholder/member of Nominet, but there are still very valid reasons to consider it - control, professionalism, being involved in the future of .uk etc etc

simple answer is no, there is no bulk "accept domains" option - you have to get them released by the existing registrar to ipex's ISPTAG and then one by one add them to 123reg

with 150 domains, theres no "cost saving" on being a tagholder/member of Nominet, but there are still very valid reasons to consider it - control, professionalism, being involved in the future of .uk etc etc
That's what I was beginning to suspect with 123. Yes, I aggree that it's not all about cost.

Thanks :)

You don't say where your 150 domains are at present. Have you checked what the transfer-out procedure is with your current tagholder, and whether or not they charge for releasing your domains?

To become a tagholder yourself you would pay a joining fee of £400 plus VAT and an annual fee of £100 plus VAT. Probably not worth it these days when so many registration agents are selling domains at cost, but was certainly worth it when we got ours (and we're keeping ours going because we couldn't imagine having to go through a middleman... plus I'd miss reading the Nom-Steer mailing list!!!)

The transfer is on behalf of a client, and the domains are currently managed by a small company probably a few links away from nominet. They are charging £17.63 per domain, so I could well imagine them charging for a transfer out, I am hoping not! On monday I will be able to find out the details. To pay for renewals at 17.63 is going to be painful, so I think it is a case of get the domains out of there regardless.

The other thing which somebody may be able to help me with...

Some of these domains are coming close to expiry, some as close as a week or so. I know there is a period when domains cannot be transfered before and shortly after expiry and renewal.

If I was happy to risk it, would it be a sensible consideration to let the domains expire and try and buy them back up afterwards? It seems logical to me, and would also be a way of avoiding outgoing transfer fees if they do charge.

I would appreciate anyones thoughts on this, are there hidden pitfalls? Could people be on waiting lists somewhere that will automatically grab the domains the moment the expire, and could I do a similar thing myself under nominet (and actually enom, because I have a number of .com/net/org too which I am doing the same thing with, and I'd probably use enom for them)?

What you still don't seem to fully appreciate is that it's the CURRENT registrar who has to initiate the transfer. Simply filling in the form on the 123-reg web site will NOT transfer the domains onto 123-reg's account. The current registrar has to actively release them - you cannot get them onto 123-reg's account without the co-operation of the current registrar, which they may charge for. (There is an alternative method of transferring domains which involves filling in some paperwork with Nominet; I won't go into details of that at the moment as it's likely to work out quite expensive).

You indicate that the domains may have been registered through a reseller; do you know who the actual tagholder (=registrar) is? (The Whois will tell you).

Nominet places no restrictions on when domains can be transferred, so the fact that some of them are close to the expiry date will not affect anything. Also, .uk domains don't actually get deleted until 90 days after expiry - there is a two-phase grace period; for the first 30 days the domain continues to be active, after that it goes into the "suspense" phase which means that it will be deactivated but it remains registered to the original registrant who can reactivate it at any time up to Day 89 by simply paying the renewal fee.

Unless the domains are dormant letting them lapse and reregistering them is not going to be a viable option because of the 60-day suspense period during which the domains will not work. Even if you are prepared to wait out those 60 days I wouldn't recommend letting the domains lapse because there is an active "dropcatcher" industry out there and chances are the domains will get snatched up.

This registrar is tucows. The administrative contact is the company my client delt with and is currently charged by. I do understand that there is some work involved for both parties.

When I've previously heard that there is a period before expiry when transfers cannot take place, it must have been individual company policies.

Thanks for the advice, it is most useful.:)

This registrar is tucows. The administrative contact is the company my client delt with and is currently charged by. I do understand that there is some work involved for both parties.

Then it's Tucows that has to release the domains. The reseller can't actually do anything.

When I've previously heard that there is a period before expiry when transfers cannot take place, it must have been individual company policies.

This is for GTLD domains (i.e., com/net/org etc). Country code domains follow the rules of the country code registry which in turn generally operates under the national laws of the country concerned. Your client's contract in registering .uk domains is with the .uk registry, Nominet - and whoever your client used to register the domains should have pointed this out and should have sent your client a link to Nominet's terms and conditions (this is part of the agreement that Nominet has with its registrars).

It's generally best to use UK companies to register .uk domains - I have yet to come across a non-UK company that understands the complexities of the .uk system! Also, going through a non-UK company (Tucows are in Canada) means that you are mixing up the legal systems of more than one country, and this could make things very messy.

The one thing I don't quite understand, or more specifically don't care for, is the hassle it takes to transfer registrants through Nominet. If I understand correctly, it's going to cost USD $60 per domain to transfer legal ownership, even though we hold the domains in our control panel at the UK registrar.

They certainly do things differently across the pond. It's enough to deter us from reselling .co.uk domains.

The one thing I don't quite understand, or more specifically don't care for, is the hassle it takes to transfer registrants through Nominet. If I understand correctly, it's going to cost USD $60 per domain to transfer legal ownership, even though we hold the domains in our control panel at the UK registrar.

That's actually the one thing I really like about .uk - there is no chance of domain names being hijacked because registrant changes are individually scrutinised and approved by the Registry. Domain names are valuable intellectual property, I think it is entirely right that you can't just transfer ownership by editing details on a control panel.

This is for GTLD domains (i.e., com/net/org etc). Country code domains follow the rules of the country code registry which in turn generally operates under the national laws of the country concerned.
According to ICANN
Registrars are not permitted to deny transfer requests arbitrarily. ICANN has no policy that permits or requires registrars to deny outgoing transfer requests solely because the registration is within X number of days before expiration. In any case where a "losing" registrar does deny a transfer request, it is required to provide the "gaining" registrar with a notice of the denial and a specific reason for the denial.
which sounds like there is no restriction to time of transfers for GTLDs either.

Icann does not govern co.uk. Nominet does

Icann does not govern co.uk. Nominet does
I know, that comment is about gltd's like com, net org etc.
and actually enom, because I have a number of .com/net/org too which I am doing the same thing with I actually have about 300 of these.

Just for the record, as it may help someone else too...

I have been in touch with 123-reg and they agreed to do a bulk transfer requested via email for that number of domains (this applies for .uk ones, I think there may be complications with others).
Anyway, thanks everyone
:)